Brick Mansions Stunt Work

How A Legendary Stuntman Masterminded Paul Walker's Final Action Film

In Paul Walker's last film, his partner is legendary parkour founder David Belle. This meant that in his last feature film, the late and great star was caught in the midst of a ton of wild action and some of the more adventurous and creative stunt work you can imagine. We got curious. What goes into the making of a scene like the one above? How much planning is needed? And just how much different is it when we are talking about parkour? We sat down with Alex Cadieux, legendary stunt performer and coordinator, to get the lowdown.

What does it take to make choreography special and really soar?The key is preparation and surrounding yourself with the right guys. People with different specialties and talents than your own in order to create an atmosphere where everybody is bringing in different ideas and moves. After that, as a coordinator, your job is to sort it out and make decisions according to what is possible and what kind of feel and style the director wants. You also have to make sure the actors are comfortable with the action. For instance, it was really important for David Bell (Lino) in this specific scene (and throughout the movie) to keep his character moving; never stopping to have a conventional fight, staying true to the basic principle of parkour, which is going as fast and smoothly as possible from point A to point B using your environment.

What is the planning needed ahead of time? I always try to plan as much as possible ahead of time. All the fights were set and approved by Camille (the director) before the beginning of principal photography. In this particular case though, the parkour scene was the last one to be shot in the movie and the two buildings we used were not abandoned, people were working there. We had restricted access to them until a week and a half before the start of shooting and for the interior part of the chase, we had a very limited space. A parkour scene is all about the environment, so you have to be there and “play with it” to see what’s possible. David and I went there multiple times to find ideas and see what could be but we couldn’t actually be sure until the week before. One of the days we were out there, David threw this idea of having his character come out of the window on one floor and swing on a window washer buggy to come in the other window on a floor lower. I thought that idea was great but wasn’t sure it could be done so I had the grips build me a mockup with pipes in the rehearsal facility and tried it with the Lino double, made changes, tried it again until we found a way to make it work.

What are the challenges of getting an elaborate scene done.?Finding the right stunt performers for the job can be a challenge. The right look, right abilities, and available when you need them to be, especially when X-Men: Days Of Future Past is shooting in town at the same time as you. You also have to make sure that everybody is safe while doing it and, at the same time, that the director gets the shots he wants.

The newest trends in fight choreography? Recently MMA (mixed martial arts) and jiu-jitsu have been very popular so we often see elements of that in choreography. Parkour has also been more and more popular ever since the original District 13 came out. The memorable scene at the beginning of the James Bond [film] Casino Royale is also a good example.

What are some fun facts about the Brick Mansion shoot?

We had a hard time finding the right balance between resistance and weight for the door getting slammed down. Too light, it would break; too heavy, the guy receiving it would get crushed under the weight. We decided on a hard frame with light panels. The doors made it through the first take but broke down on the second. The swing from upper floor to lower floor on the window washers’ basket was actually done in one take with no wires but there was another roof just under the lower window with a small mat that were erased subsequently.

Born and raised in Montreal, Alex Cadieux has been working in the stunt industry for just under 20 years; first as a stunt performer and now as a stunt coordinator. Since he started practicing martial arts at the age of 14 years old, Alex has obtained a 4th degree black belt in Goju Ryu. A solid horseback rider, Alex’s skills range from fox hunting to show jumping. Additional stunt credits include IMMORTALS, 300 and more.